


standing right next to you

by crowneclipse



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Drama & Romance, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Red String of Fate, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-15 03:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15403755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowneclipse/pseuds/crowneclipse
Summary: Who said cupid was kind? His arrows pierce through people’s hearts don’t they?





	standing right next to you

 “Where is Junhui?”

Minghao’s brow shoots up at the inquiry. “Why do you _care_?”, his tone all riled up, as if accusing the man before him of a dire crime.

“I was-“, Wonwoo cuts himself off. Yeah, why does he care? It’s not like he cared a few minutes ago when Junhui was calling him out his room to come with him somewhere. The other members have already gone off to do their own activities. Some left to do their individual schedules while some of them were left to their own devices, cooped up in the comforts of their own rooms. Like Wonwoo.

And Minghao for this matter.

“What?”, Minghao riles up as if knowing something that Wonwoo does not. The Chinese’s eyes were full of offending mirth, it makes Wonwoo want to break his bones. He was not always this aggressive, but this is Junhui they were talking about. If there was someone who knows where Jun is aside from him, then it should be Minghao. “I’m not your keeper. Did you not even listen to him when he asked you?”

Wonwoo’s ears burned in embarrassment, was it supposed to annoy him? He should not be! Minghao was right, he’s not somebody’s babysitter.

“You know something I don’t.”

“And if I do?”, and there it is. There is that teasing lilt to his voice taunting and pressing Wonwoo to keep on asking until he gets what he wants.

“You just want him when he’s gone.”

Another pang of offense flashes through the older’s blank façade. He takes the younger by his collar, effectively making Minghao drop the shoe he was cleaning. They were both lucky that the living room was isolated.

“You prick-“

“No, _you_ prick! You fucker pushed him to leave all alone!”

“What did you do to him? Where did you take him?”, his voice growing exponentially louder yet it seems like they were the only ones in the zone. They are.

“Oh, so a fallen god cannot even figure out where his boyfriend is?”, a solid punch lands on the younger’s cheeks. A finger lifts up as Minghao wipes away the blood from the cut on his lip, a dark laugh slipping out from his throat.

“I don’t know what you are or where you came from but I should be able to track him regardless. Why- why can’t I feel him-“

“You mean you can’t feel him here?”, the younger lifts a red string from beneath them. Wonwoo usually only feels constant tugs from the red string of fate but now, the feeling is seemingly fading. The string seems to be pulling back now, rolling around Minghao’s palm. It seems never ending until a spark catches Wonwoo’s eyes.

“Would you look at that.”, Minghao shakes his head as the sparking thread draws closer.

It’s rotting, burning.

“Stop! What- what are you doing?!”, Wonwoo drops Minghao to the ground, trying to salvage of what’s left of the string. Strangely enough, he cannot touch it. Just like how Minghao does it.

“Me? I’m not doing anything?”, the younger sinisterly laughs at the older’s sorry attempt at saving of what’s left.

Wonwoo can feel the pain in his heart. It’s burning like the string but even worse. It’s like there’s an invisible smoke clogging up his throat, forcing every way of breathing out of his system.

 

“Five hundred years mister.”, Minghao stands up, walking around Wonwoo’s regretful figure on the ground. “Six reincarnations with only four encounters. Two of which, you cannot even be together for so long because of some reason.”

Wonwoo remembers.

He can clearly see the past lives they had. His first one must be his happiest. It was way before the war, Junhui and him got married and they lived in a small cottage down south a country whose name he cannot pronounce. It was then at the start of the war when he lost Junhui. They were trying to hide from the troops. They were all off to kill everybody married to the same-sex as it was rumored to start an epidemic. Instead of receiving the bullet, Junhui jumped in front of the bayonet only to end up having his heart pierced by its sharp end.

“Remember me, Wonwoo. Even if I don’t.”

 

It’s like a curse. Junhui’s last words in his first life ended up like a poison rotting their thread. Wonwoo’s second life was what taught him that happiness is not what he will always expect it to be. He meets him at a university. Wonwoo, a stumbling teenager studying medicine, and Jun, a patient. He recognizes those cat eyes, that beautiful face, from his past life.

“What’s your name?”

Maybe this is what they call a heartbreak.

The older’s imploring eyes stare at him in curiosity as tears start to fall from his eyes. He promised to himself that even if Jun cannot remember, then he will help him.

Junhui cuts the flowers left by his brother, daintily placing them on a flower vase by his bed. “You always tell me how you want me to remember but haven’t you thought of”, he slowly pours water into the ceramic element. “Making new ones with me?”, Junhui looks back at the young doctor scanning the results of the patient’s recent examination.

Wonwoo did not even hear what his lover said.

The infection has spread all over the older’s body and there’s nothing, not even the books he has read day and night, could cure Junhui.

A week after Junhui died of blood poisoning.

 

Oh, how cruel life could be.

Wonwoo thinks as he stares at the string tied to his paw. He lifts his small head as he watches his owner enter the bedroom. This third life must be the most he could get after their first two lifetimes but it seems like Jun has not remembered her soulmate. The lady in red slowly takes off her mermaid-cut dress. Sighing as it releases her body from the tight confines. The black cat jumps off the ledge, following his owner as she settles on her bed, the silk covers crumpling around her movement. “It’s okay Won, just a hard day’s work.”

It is. Her body was patched with red and purple bruises, her neck marked with teeth bites. Some of which are still bleeding a bit because of too much kissing and sucking from her customers. The cat could only offer comfort by staying beside Jun as always.

“You won’t leave me, right?”, she hiccups as she softly brushes the black cat’s fur. Receiving a kitten lick on her finger.

 

 

“You don’t even have to face these lifetimes you idiot.”, a voice brushes Wonwoo away from his thoughts. Now on to the fourth, they were living as famous celebrities under the scrutiny of everybody watching. Soulmates like them cannot even express the love they have for each other in fear of ruining their lives. Not only are their futures at stake but also of their families, friends, and company. “You could have chosen another god to love but here you are smartass.”, Minghao’s shrill voice echoes through the seemingly dark alternative universe they are in right now. Still at the present but it feels like Minghao has created an area of isolation where only them, other-beings, can enter. “Falling in love with a mortal.”

His life, his world way before he nuzzled his whiskers on Jun’s fingers, way before he resuscitated him, way before the door in their small cottage was broken down by the troops— he was a god.

Silly as it may seem, but he remembers it now. Minghao used to work for him but because of his misdemeanor as a god, the other higher beings have decided that if he really wants to stay with the mortal then he, too, must live as a mortal.

Jun was just a son of a farmer back then. Wonwoo still remembers that the young farmer badly wanted to dance for the gods and satisfy them.

And dance for them he did, his graceful movements are what pulled Wonwoo down, down until he wanted to plant his feet onto the ground forever.

“Wonwoo you did not have to stay.”, Minghao stops in front of him with sad eyes. “You know that.”

“But I wanted to.”

“Yet here you are!”, his voice booms throughout the grey area, “What is happening to you? He cannot even feel that you want to stay! Look at that!”, he points at the burning portion of the thread. An eery feeling still creeping in Wonwoo’s heart as he stares at it, slowly gnawing at the fraying piece. “That’s not Junhui’s fault.”, the younger shakes his head as he lowers down his face. “It’s all yours.”

They were so near yet also far. Fingertips away and a small sashay in a distance yet he cannot even pull his feet to do so. “This is supposed to be a punishment Wonwoo, for loving a mortal. But how come the higher beings are ashamed that they have to put you back down here when your mind is all the way up there?”, the younger whispers menacingly with an edge to his voice. Wonwoo could not really blame Junhui for feeling as if he is straying farther. This lifetime must be something that has given them so much to do. Rehearsals, varieties, interviews, concerts and everything big!

As if hearing his doubts, Minghao stands up, “Wonwoo you have stayed nights reading a whole fucking library of information, even outdated books that you swore not to lay your hands on just to look for a cure for Junhui! Yet you’re missing this one chance at actually being with him.”

“In this world? This era? Are you really sure we can be together?”, his voice was shaking in helplessness. It’s no use, they were going to be separated anyway. When he saw the familiar mop of black hair enter their green room years ago, he immediately thought that maybe they could finally be happy. Then they grew older, years passed and despite building up their relationship, he learned that there are eyes out there who are more than willing to tear them apart if it meant that they could see their ideal picture of what love is.

A bow and arrow magically appeared out of nowhere and Minghao could have shot Wonwoo in frustration if it was not for a hand stopping him from releasing.

“Jeonghan let me go.”

“I did not send you here to kill him.”

“Oh, maybe he could make use of his next lifetime again to chase Junhui as a fucking street rat! Maybe that’s how they can be together.”

“Come on Minghao, you need to calm down.”, the god puts a hand over the younger’s strained arm, slowly lowering down the weapon.

“You know what to do Wonwoo.”, the god who replaced Wowoo in the skies speaks as he subdues Minghao’s weapons until it turns back into dust. “I believe Minghao here has done his job.”

His throat felt parched. His mind going hazy at everything that has been happening. Again, what happened? What were they talking about? Wonwoo’s body felt weak, the ground seems to be pulling his body along. He did not know that the earth loved him more than he does.

 

 

“-Woo”

The boy blinks his eyes open before the lights flashing above him pierces through the darkness behind his eyelids. It was just the fluorescent lights in their living room.

“Wonwoo!”, the rapper’s head shoots to the side from where the voice is coming.

Junhui.

“Why were you sleeping on the floor? You’re right next to the sofa, idiot.”, Junhui knocks his head on the younger’s own while laughing.

“Hey Jun?”, the older perks up humming in reply.

Maybe he should give it a chance.

A million lifetimes ahead but he will be starting as early as the fourth one.

“I like you, will you be my boyfriend?”, he confesses no holds barred.

Pink tinges the older’s cheeks, obviously taken aback.

“What brought this on?”, Jun hesitantly tries to move away. “Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?”

“Because“, Wonwoo gulps a lungful of air as he closes his eyes, a montage of their past lives flashing behind his eyes.

I will remember you even if you cannot.

I will be with you even if the tides are rough.

I will be your keeper, forever.

 

“I want to continue making good memories with you.”

Wonwoo smiles softly and he thinks it’s enough as familiarity flashes before Junhui’s eyes, slowly nodding his head.

“Okay, that’s okay.”, Junhui moves closer, lifting his hands as he lets Wonwoo rest his head on his shoulder. Tears escaping his eyes.

 

 

 

“I cannot believe I have to do that.”, a kiss lands on Minghao’s cheek then he gets pushed to the side.

Mingyu fusses with his shoes behind him as they enter the dorm, “The higher beings would love this, just wait until I get back to the realm.”, he mumbles softly into his soulmate's ear, scared that he might disturb the new couple who were still savoring their moment.

“We’re back!”, Jeonghan screams as he toes off his shoes, effectively surprising Wonwoo and Jun. “There, that should be enough, right?”, he jokes looking back at Minghao and Mingyu who were both grinning as the new couple scramble off each other.


End file.
